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The Sermon on the Mount related in Matthew 5-7 has much in common with the teaching of Jesus related in Luke 6. It is widely recognized that Luke 6 teaches in an abbreviated form what Matthew 5-7 teaches in greater detail. But there are also some significant differences. The sermon of Luke 6 takes place on a plain, whereas the sermon of Matthew 5-7 takes place on a mountain. There are also differences between the Beatitudes themselves in the two accounts. Luke recounts only four Beatitudes and f …

If you’re like me, the first time you ever took the trouble to learn the Beatitudes it was a list you had to memorize in catechism class. For most people, that is all the Beatitudes has been: a list, and now likely a forgotten list. What many don’t realize is that the Beatitudes were at the very heart of the teaching of Jesus Christ, and that they are a not a memorization exercise but way of life to be lived.The world first heard the Beatitudes proclaimed overlooking the Sea of Galilee, in the S …

One evening I had the sad duty of attending my neighbor’s funeral. The assistant pastor from the church stood up and after a few remarks about the deceased began to give a sermon. The first ten minutes was dedicated to how he knew that my neighbor believed in Jesus and was in heaven, so there was no need to pray for her or offer Masses or anything like that. The next thirty minutes or so (it’s difficult to tell since it seemed like eternity) was dedicated to explaining why it doesn’t matter whic …

Many non-Catholics struggle with the concept of praying to saints because they think prayer and worship are the same thing. Since the Bible says we should only worship God, then shouldn’t we only pray to God? But the word “worship” refers to giving someone “worth-ship,” or the honor that person is due. We call judges “your honor,” for example, as a way of paying them respect, but we don’t treat them like gods. “Prayer” comes from the Latin word precarius and refers to making a request for someth …

Despite the ruins of the Sexual Revolution being all around us, many Protestants are doubling down—not only continuing to support contraception, but starting to embrace other related practices that have historically been considered grave sins. And as usual, theirsola scripturaapproach is allowing them to re-interpret Scripture to find justification. For example, the debate over homosexuality and same-sex “marriage” in Protestantism is taking an almost identical trajectory to the debate over cont …